science

List of loanwords in Malay language

List of loanwords in Malay language is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of loanwords in Malay language rather than just read about it. In short: Modern form of Malay language in general has many loanwords from Sanskrit, Persian, Tamil, Greek, Latin, Portuguese, Dutch, Siam (Old Thailand), Khmer and Deutsch (Germany). More recently, loans have come from Arabic, English, Japanese and Malay's distant cousin such as Javanese and Buginese.

Key takeaways

List of loanwords in Malay language belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect List of loanwords in Malay language to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of List of loanwords in Malay language from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Modern form of Malay language in general has many loanwords from Sanskrit, Persian, Tamil, Greek, Latin, Portuguese, Dutch, Siam (Old Thailand), Khmer and Deutsch (Germany). More recently, loans have come from Arabic, English, Japanese and Malay's distant cousin such as Javanese and Buginese. English and other romance/germanic loans are mostly related to trade, science and technology while Arabic loans are mostly religious as Arabic is the liturgical language of Islam, the religion of the majority of Malay speakers. Some were also used in science, makmal for example mean laboratorium. Although Hinduism and Buddhism are no longer the major religions of Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia, Sanskrit, the vehicular language for these religions, is still held in high esteem, and its status is comparable with that of Latin in English and other Western European languages. The main reason is that Indian Muslims left big legacy in Southeast Asia. Sanskrit is also the main source for neologisms; these are usually formed from Sanskrit roots. For example, the name of cities of Putrajaya and Petaling Jaya (the second name) in Malaysia, Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei, and the name of Jayapura city (former Hollandia) and Jayawijaya Mountains (former Orange Range) in the Indonesian province of Papua were coined in the 1960s; the latter two are Sanskrit origin names to replace its Dutch colonial names. Some Indonesian contemporary medals of honor and awards, such as Bintang Mahaputra medal, Kalpataru award and Adipura award, are also Sanskrit derived names. The loanwords from Sanskrit cover many aspects of religion, art and everyday life. The Sanskrit influence came from contacts with India long ago before the 1st century. The words are either directly borrowed from India or through the intermediary of the Old Javanese language. In the classical language of Java, Old Javanese, the number of Sanskrit loanwords is far greater. The Old Javanese — English dictionary by Prof. P.J. Zoetmulder, S.J. (1982) contains no fewer than 25,500 entries. Almost half are Sanskrit loanwords. Sanskrit loanwords, unlike those from other languages except Arabic and Persian, have entered the basic Malay vocabulary to the point that they are no longer perceived to be foreign. Indonesian has inclination toward Sanskrit in formulation of new words due to extensive Javanese and Balinese-speaking community, while Malaysian and Bruneian Malay prefer Arabic as source for neologism due to acceptance of Islamic Arabic practices. Arabic in Indonesian tends to reside in (Islamic) religious sphere, the presence of Sanskritised neologism in Malaysian and Bruneian Malay is a result of "importation" from Indonesian. Other austronesian elements are also incorporated from the variant of Malay used in Indonesia due to the exchange of influence on the Indonesian media in Malay pop culture and vice-versa. Dutch influence over Indonesian vocabulary is highly significant, as Malay was adopted due to usefulness as a trading language during the Dutch East India Company's rule over the archipelago. This has led to approximately 10,000 Dutch words being borrowed into Indonesian. Malay as spoken in Malaysia (Bahasa Melayu) and Singapore, meanwhile, have more borrowings from English. There are some words in Malay which are spelled exactly the same as the loan language, e.g. in English – museum (Indonesian), hospital (Malaysian), format, forum, hotel, transit etc. By contrast, some Malay words have been loaned into other languages, e.g. in English – rice paddy ("padi"), orangutan, rattan, babirusa, cockatoo, compound, gong, tuak, sago, cootie, amok, durian, agar, rambutan, keris, Pantoum/pantun, angrecum (anggrek/ anggrik), cassowary, gingham, caddie, camphor (kapur), Gutta-percha (getah perca), launch, parang, sarong, dammar, and gambir. Malay has also heavily influenced the forms of colloquial English spoken in Malaysia, also known as Manglish. Some examples are as follows:

See also List of English words of Malay origin List of loanwords in Indonesian List of words of Malay origin at Wiktionary

References

Further reading Loan Words in Indonesian and Malay languages - Professor J.G. de Casparis Loan Words in Indonesian and Malay — University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-90-6718-304-8

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of loanwords in Malay language

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of loanwords in Malay language claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of loanwords in Malay language before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of loanwords in Malay language ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of loanwords in Malay language

In research: List of loanwords in Malay language appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of loanwords in Malay language in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of loanwords in Malay language is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Lists of loanwords, Malay language, Malay words and phrases, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of loanwords in Malay language outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study List of loanwords in Malay language in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what List of loanwords in Malay language means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain List of loanwords in Malay language out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is List of loanwords in Malay language in simple terms?

Why does List of loanwords in Malay language matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of loanwords in Malay language?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of loanwords in Malay language.